The Blessed Mother is the Queen of Heaven and earth and is the beacon of light that we all, as Catholic women, should follow.
May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary to honor her as the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven, so it is timely to reflect on the Blessed Mother — as well as some of the women I look up to most in my faith journey.
When I converted to Catholicism in 2015, one of the highlights of discovering the Church was recognizing how much this faith reveres women. We look to the Blessed Mother for counsel and intercession in times of confusion, we pray for littleness and humility alongside our heavenly friend St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and we admire present-day role models of the Church like Leah Darrow and Lila Rose so that we may be more bold in our speech and our actions.
First and foremost is the Blessed Mother, Mary. I learned how to pray the Rosary when I first became Catholic, and it was something I couldn’t get enough of. I would pray every night, and if I felt like I wasn’t praying well enough, I would start over because I truly desired a friendship with my Heavenly Mother.
After discovering that I could consecrate myself to Jesus through Mary, I eagerly did so and asked for healing from a wound I had struggled with my whole life. To this day, she has helped me remain steadfast in my faith, and when I feel particularly far from her Son, I pray a Rosary to get back on track.
When it comes to “saint besties,” I would, without a doubt, call St. Thérèse of Lisieux my closest heavenly friend. For a while, I didn’t feel like I could “claim” her as a friend due to her extreme popularity. It almost felt as though all the cradle Catholics had claimed her early on, and she had too many young women leaning on her. How silly! The more I read about St. Thérèse — her littleness (and even her tantrums) and her desire to take the elevator to heaven — I thought, “Wow, I have to be friends with this girl.”
As I continued investing in getting to know this iconic saint, along with the Blessed Mother, I was inspired to start a podcast, The Daily Nothings, which is rooted in the reality that all of our daily choices — those the world might classify as “nothing” or unimportant — actually shape our eternity. To say these women have impacted my life in significant ways would be a massive understatement.
Lastly, when it comes to women in the Church today whom I deeply admire, I immediately think of both Lila Rose and Leah Darrow. I am constantly in awe of how these women present themselves publicly and how they have influenced social media in a beautifully Catholic way.
Lila Rose is known for her work with Live Action, a pro-life movement making great strides, and Leah Darrow is known for her time on America’s Next Top Model and her profound conversion back to the Lord. Both of these women are bold, honest and fully alive in a way that I hope to embody as I continue to grow in faith.
The Blessed Mother is the Queen of Heaven and earth and is the beacon of light that we all, as Catholic women, should follow. Having her and these other women to look up to — both in prayer and in the present day — transforms the decisions I make, the way I pursue my dreams, and the sainthood I continue to strive for. Without the Church and its foundational respect for women, I would not know these role models the way that I do today. I am so grateful that I get to live this life with these friends by my side.
Courtney Roach is the digital marketing manager for FOCUS and also works in social-media consulting.
